Everything about Sobekneferu totally explained
Sobeknefru (sometimes written "
Nefrusobek") was an
Egyptian female pharaoh of the
Twelfth dynasty. Her name meant "the beauties of
Sobek." Some scholars believe she was the daughter of
Pharaoh Amenemhat III;
Manetho states she was the sister of
Amenemhat IV. She is the first
known female ruler of Egypt, though
Nitocris may have ruled in the
Sixth Dynasty, and there are five other women who are believed to have ruled as early as the
First Dynasty.
Amenemhat IV most likely died without a male heir. Consequently, Amenemhat III's daughter Sobekneferu assumed the throne. According to the
Turin Canon, she ruled for 3 years, 10 months and 24 days. The end of her reign concluded Egypt's Twelfth dynasty and inaugurated the Thirteenth dynasty.
Reign
She isn't known from many monuments, though many of her (headless) statues have been preserved including the base of a king's daughter with her name that was discovered in Gezer.. She also made additions to the funerary complex of
Amenemhat III at
Hawara (called a
labyrinth by
Herodotus) and built at Herakleopolis Magna while a fine cylinder seal bearing her name and royal titulary is now located in the British Museum. A Nile
graffito, at the
Nubian fortress of Kumma records the Nile inundation height of 1.83 metres in Year 3 of her reign. Her monumental works consistently associate her with Amenemhat III rather than Amenemhat IV, supporting the theory that she was Amenemhat III's daughter and was perhaps only a step-sister of Amenemhat IV. The Danish Egyptologist
Kim Ryholt notes that the contemporary sources from her reign show she never adopted the title of "Queen or King's sister"--only 'King's Daughter'--which supports this hypothesis.
Her tomb hasn't been positively identified, though she may have been interred in an uninscribed pyramid complex in
Mazghuna, immediately north of a similar complex ascribed to Amenemhat IV. A place called Sekhem-Neferu is mentioned in a papyrus found at Harageh. This is perhaps the name of her pyramid.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Sobekneferu'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://sobekneferu.totallyexplained.com">Sobekneferu Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
